What's On Today

By KATHRYN SHATTUCK

Published: April 11, 2011

9 P.M. (13, 49) THE GREAT FAMINE When a devastating famine descended on Russia in 1921, Americans responded with a two-year relief campaign, championed by a new secretary of commerce, Herbert Hoover, a k a the great humanitarian. Nearly 300 relief workers, nicknamed Hoover's ''boys,'' encountered a railroad system in disarray, a forbidding climate and a ruthless government suspicious of their motives. By the summer of 1922 Americans were feeding nearly 11 million Russian citizens a day in 19,000 kitchens. This ''American Experience'' documentary from Austin Hoyt tells the story of an operation hailed for its efficiency, determination and generosity within the context of the Russian Revolution and examines the roots of the rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union that would dominate the second half of the 20th century.

8 P.M. (National Geographic) CIVIL WARRIORS: FAMILIES AT WAR In this three-hour program descendants of soldiers investigate their heritage, starting with Roger Fisk, whose ancestor fought in the Union Army to help free slaves. In other segments Christian Latham, a 22-year-old descendant of a private, tries to experience what his ancestors did 150 years earlier in their struggle for freedom. And Tim Sawyer questions whether his great-great-grandfather, a Civil War surgeon, could have saved the life of President Lincoln.

8 P.M. (Fox) HOUSE In this 150th episode Thirteen (Olivia Wilde) mysteriously reappears after what seems to have been a stint in prison, and House (Hugh Laurie, above, with Ms. Wilde) wants to know why she ended up there. Meanwhile the team treats a patient with respiratory problems who turns out to have been a hoarder.

8 P.M. (A&E) INTERVENTION IN-DEPTH: HILLBILLY HEROIN A report on prescription-pill trafficking in Scioto County, Ohio. Some fictional backwoods types can be seen in ''Deliverance'' (1972), at 8 on AMC, starring Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds and Ned Beatty as hunters who get in over their heads in rural Georgia.

9 P.M. (Travel) ANTHONY BOURDAIN: NO RESERVATIONS The chef Ferran Adri?as called the Amazon the last great culinary frontier. Mr. Bourdain tests the theory by searching for gastronomical treasures found in this region of Brazil. Dishes include mani?a, whose base comes from the leaves of the manioc plant, ground and boiled to remove the poisonous chemical hydrogen cyanide; pork-leg sandwiches; and water buffalo cheese.

9 P.M. (NBC) LAW & ORDER: LOS ANGELES This spinoff returns with a retooled format and a tweaked cast. In this two-hour premiere episode Detectives Winters (Skeet Ulrich) and Jaruszalski (Corey Stoll) investigate the case of a quincea?, or 15th birthday party, that erupts in violence, leaving a roomful of people dead. Morales (Alfred Molina) risks upsetting the Mexican government by prosecuting the culprits, which leads him to a shocking decision.

10 P.M. (ABC) CASTLE Becket (Stana Katic) and Castle (Nathan Fillion) investigate the death of a swimmer aiming for the Olympics. The real-life authors Michael Connelly and Dennis Lehane offer Castle their insights into the case over a game of poker.

10 P.M. (13) REDISCOVERING ALEXANDER HAMILTON The journalist Richard Brookhiser wrote and hosts this documentary, which focuses on the strengths and weaknesses of Hamilton -- the first Treasury secretary, a founding father, an economist, a political philosopher and the face on the $10 bill -- in six chronological segments. Beginning in the Caribbean, where Hamilton was born, the film travels to Yorktown, N.Y.; Wall Street, where he fought and worked; Harlem; and Weehawken, N.J., where he lived and died. Larry Flynt; Rupert Murdoch; Marilyn Milian, ''The People's Court'' judge; Representative Charles B. Rangel, Democrat of New York; and Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court weigh in.

10 P.M. (Showtime) NURSE JACKIE Jackie (Edie Falco) discovers the younger sister of Kevin (Dominic Fumosa) sleeping off a hangover in the girls' bedroom and suspects that her husband has arranged for her to monitor Jackie after an unsuccessful intervention. Back at the hospital an Orthodox Jew battles the parents of his critically ill wife over her treatment. In ''The United States of Tara,'' at 10:30, a stressed-out Tara (Toni Collette) finds her alter egos struggling for dominance. KATHRYN SHATTUCK